Tag Archives: business

This is a post about learning…but bear with me while I work off a ranty-preamble…

The six-year-old had a lesson on banking today from a well-known Southern Hemisphere bank. Let’s call it the Absolutely Solid Bank, for argument’s sake. She came home, all excited about a cash-gobbling monster stomping through stories with a salutary message: ‘Zoom to your needs, and wait for your wants.’ No argument from me thus far.

But then we argued…sorry, strongly discussed…the need for her to then wear a tattoo emblazoned with the brand of the bank that was a freebie at the end of the lesson. She loved the colour, the idea of the tattoo. And, apparently, everyone will have them on tomorrow…

What got to me most was the way the kids were being branded (albeit temporarily) by a corporate logo, sucked in by a shiny, ‘cool’ ploy (not to mention the looong list of crazy chemicals that are in these stick-on tats). So I resorted to bribery (money in her piggy bank in exchange for the tattoo. Fair, sensible, even ironic swap). If the bank wants to be altruistic, then the learning experience is fine. Otherwise, perhaps they shouldn’t be allowed to come and market themselves to primary children.

I love the message of saving, and I believe strongly in the value of financial literacy. But not at the expense of learning about the value of information literacy and the power of advertising. A hard lesson to learn when the person is teaching the first, but exploiting the second.

Do you have a company strategy for using the telephone? Sending email?

Probably not.

And a strategy for ‘using social media’ is the same. It misses the bigger picture. That is, that social media is just one type of channel through which a modern company can choose to engage with its clients and networks. Call it ‘online engagement’, ‘PR with a purpose’ or ‘Coining it in with Comms’ – but it is vital to step back and think about the endgame of all that customer engagement.

This is how you might start:

1. Start with your company’s goals and vision statement. Don’t have them? Well, there’ll be somewhere on the server (and if they don’t exist then engaging with customers online is the least of your worries). Identify aspects of the vision and direction that relate to customer liaison and client relationships.

2. Who are your customers? No, really… who the heck are they? Not sure? Then you’ve got some homework to do. User surveys, focus groups, chats down the pub and with your colleagues. Where do they hang out? What do they read? Are they even online? If so, where and and how often? Find out everything you can about the people who pay your wages. Why not develop some personas while you’re at it.

3. Make connections between the vision statement, the company goals – and those all important customers. Identify all the ways in which the company aims to impact on their lives. Persuading them to buy shiny stuff? Working with them to teach them stuff? Whatever you do to make a buck, you need to know what customer liasion looks like, for your company, when it’s successful.

But, hang on. Isn’t this about working with them online? Where’s the ‘online’ bit?

There is no point planning an online strategy without knowing your company direction, your customers – and how you can work with them successfully. Once you’ve done that, then…

4. Identify the online and offline channels that can be used to touch your customers’ lives most successfully and in a way that suits them. No point having a Facebook book page for people who don’t use social media – but a great idea to use Twitter to reach techno-savvy clients.

5. By the time you’re at step 5, the devil is in the detail. You’ll need to plan timeframes (so you need to know what’s realistically possible). You need resources (but how long will it all take? and how much will it cost?). You need to choose ways to monitor, listen, evaluate and plan again (and is there software to do this for me)?

And we haven’t even got to the part that’ll make your CEO think all this is a good idea.

Watch this space for Part 2 of this post – where I’ll unpack No. 5, with some useful links that I’ve found really helpful.